Chapter 63

  The battle ended in about ten minutes, and although the enemy fired a large number of shells at us, they were unable to save the lives of their comrades gathered in the forest. Those enemies either ran out of the forest and died under our guns or continued to hide in the forest waiting for the torment of flames.

  At that moment, my comrades and I didn't know where the courage came from to face the enemy's artillery fire head-on. If it were usual times, we might not even have had the guts to stick our heads out of the trenches, but now, we could still unyieldingly seal off the enemy's retreat route with firepower amidst the deafening explosions and flying shrapnel and debris outside the trenches.

  Our idea is actually very simple, that is, we absolutely cannot let these damn devils escape, they killed so many of us, we want them to pay for their crimes with blood.

  Before long, the forest was surrounded by the bodies of enemy soldiers, and the ground was covered in their blood. The battle ended with the forest completely engulfed in a raging fire, because both our army and the enemy knew that it was impossible for anyone to survive in such a situation.

  "Good hit!" The bombing had just ended, and Scarface burst out laughing: "You damned devils, you've had your day too! Now that was a satisfying fight!"

  "Form a line! Now we can wipe out an entire company of devils!" Little Stone shouted.

  "I can't take it anymore!" The excited reader chimed in, "If we run out of the forest and kill them all, there are almost over a hundred people, not to mention those who were burned to death inside the forest and didn't come out!"

  "That's enough!" The machine gun chuckled.

  "Thanks to the second company's comrades!" Captain Luo looked in a great mood, and patted my shoulder heavily, saying: "Now we've really hurt those devils, let's see them act arrogant again, what 'King Card' unit? Weren't they also beaten by us until they were in disarray?"

  What Luo Lianchang said was right, this time the enemy's 316th Division really made us suffer. In the following days, except for a few small-scale harassments and occasional cold shots, the enemy did not make any major moves. There may be three reasons for this: one is that the enemy lost an ideal gathering place, causing them to temporarily lose their footing; another is that the heavy casualties made them no longer dare to underestimate us who were stationed on the unnamed heights. And maybe it was just their vanguard force...

  The sun slowly sets in the west, and the afterglow of sunset shines through the thin clouds onto the ground, casting a faint golden light over our military camp. At this time, various animals in the tropical rainforest also end their busy day of foraging and return to their nests, and the surrounding forests and bushes are filled with birdsong and cicadas...

  But this scene that should have been relaxing and comfortable was shattered by the corpses scattered all over the mountains and the stench of death in the air.

  Vietnam's air is very humid, with daytime temperatures reaching over thirty degrees, which determines the speed of **. Isn't that so? By nightfall, the bodies of the Vietnamese army that had not been transported away from the battlefield had all changed, their entire bodies swollen, their bellies bulging high, some bursting open their tattered military uniforms to reveal grayish-white rotting flesh inside, some with eyeballs eaten by insects leaving two terrifying black holes on their faces, and some with green-headed flies crawling all over their dark wounds... Occasionally, a "bang" sound would be heard...

  Don't worry, it's not the devils shooting, but a corpse explosion!

  I admit I was quite ignorant, and had no idea that corpses could explode. Now that I know, I'd rather not have known. Corpse explosion is when the corpse absorbs moisture from the air and is exposed to sunlight, causing the belly to slowly inflate like a balloon... until it suddenly bursts with a loud "pop" sound, releasing yellow, green, and black thick fluids and a foul odor, which is as disgusting as you can imagine.

  In this case, let's not even mention eating, I feel like vomiting all day, my head is dizzy from the stench of corpses... From this point of view, I'd rather hope the enemy fires a few more rounds, at least the smell of gunpowder can dilute the stench in the air.

  "Second platoon, move out!" The company commander looked at the darkening sky and shouted to me from over a dozen meters away: "Take a few men to seal off the position!"

  "What's a 'siege formation'?" Hearing this new term, I was like a monk who couldn't find his head.

  "Hmm!" Lian Chang finally reacted: "The second row leader doesn't know how to seal the formation... then, let the first row leader go with the second row leader together!"

  "Right!" Scar replied with a nod of his head towards me.

  Helpless, I had to randomly pick a few people and follow them up. My heart was filled with resentment... If Knife Scar can do it, why drag me along? We've been tired all day, finally got a chance to rest, and now there's another task! Can't we just live?!

  Actually, I knew it in my heart. This is actually a tradition of our army's combat: fighting while learning. If just because I don't know how to do it and assign someone else to go, that also means I will never learn.

  Then I knew that the so-called blockade position was actually laying mines around the position, with the aim of preventing the enemy from launching a surprise attack.

  Because the Viet Minh might infiltrate from any direction, these mines were laid not only in front of defensive positions but also to their rear and even along communication routes between friendly units.

  It proved to be very necessary, for the enemy always took advantage of our weak defense on the side facing friendly forces to launch sneak attacks. In the dark night, landmines were undoubtedly the best sentry, which would tell us in the first time with an explosion that the enemy was approaching us.

  Of course, when laying these landmines, we must record their number and location so that when we need to contact friendly forces, we won't accidentally trigger our own mines. Then, during the day, we can accurately remove them.

  The scar led us to a temporary ammunition depot where each of us was given six landmines and told not to move before setting off.

  We were assigned to lay mines on a nameless high ground on the left flank of our position, because this high ground was on the other side of the enemy's position, so the soldiers relaxed quickly.

  The cat landed on its waist and ran a short distance before arriving at the destination. Knife Scar II didn't say a word, dug a small pit in the ground, then took out a landmine and pointed it at us with the back facing him, saying: "Do you see? There are several words behind the landmine, one is the safety file, and one is the preparation file! Hold the pressure plate and rotate it counterclockwise. When rotated to the preparation file, it will be in a triggered state. Be careful when burying it and make good camouflage..."

  "What?" This was the first time I had encountered a landmine. Before, I had always been full of curiosity and fear towards this mysterious thing, so when Scar said it so simply, I couldn't believe it.

  But landmines are not that complicated after all, they are basically the same as hand grenades and explosive packs. The difference is that hand grenades and explosive packs explode openly, while landmines are hidden and you can't see where they are. Some experienced old soldiers can easily and quickly set up hand grenades or explosive packs as booby traps... just like what I did before.

  Thinking back, when laying landmines, one can't afford to be careless. Joking aside, this is a life-or-death job; when laying them, our heads are less than a meter away from the landmine, and if we're not careful, our heads will be blown off... Moreover, in these few days of fighting, I've come to realize that our military equipment always has some kind of malfunction. For example, the Type 56 assault rifle will explode after prolonged firing, at least one-fifth of the hand grenades won't detonate, and the recoilless rocket launcher sometimes fires three consecutive duds...

  Just thinking about this makes me feel a bit nervous when burying landmines - what if the quality of these landmines is also not up to par, and we turn it to the ready position or just lightly touch it and it explodes?

  Later, I found out that it wasn't just me who was thinking about this problem. Xiaoshi asked Daoshou about it, and Daoshou immediately gave Xiaoshi a slap on the head: "What else can you do? If something like that really happens, your brain will be gone, what's there to think about?"

  The warriors couldn't help but burst out laughing, but it was clear that the laughter was tinged with a hint of despair and bitterness.

  Are the leaders and workers who produce weapons and ammunition in the rear considering this issue? Have they ever thought that due to their carelessness and shoddy work, not only did our troops suffer unnecessary casualties, but also made us lose confidence in our own weapons?

  We buried landmines at designated locations according to the markings on the map, while recording the number and location of landmines in our notebooks. We even drew a simple distribution diagram of the landmines as required, so that if our troops or friendly forces needed to pass through the minefield, they could use it for reference. At the same time, this also facilitated the laying of mines on the second day at dawn.

  As the landmines on our shoulders decreased one by one, the records on the map increased. Before long, we arrived at the fifth mine burial point.

  "Just as I had dug a hole and was about to bury the landmine, a young soldier rushed over and said: 'Let me do this one! If not, this landmine won't be buried, and others will laugh at us when we get back!'"

  It turned out that this warrior had been responsible for delivering landmines all along, so he hadn't personally buried one until now.

  "Hurry up!" Scar urged: "It's essential to finish before nightfall, otherwise there may be errors in the record!"

  "Yes!" The warriors responded in unison and once again set to work with a flurry of activity.

  "What the hell are you doing...” The little warrior had just started and was immediately scolded by Scar: "The landmine hasn't even been activated yet, and you're burying it underground. We came here to lay mines to blow up the devils, not to give them landmines as gifts!"

  The little warrior's face turned red and he hastily dug out the landmine from the pit, adjusted it again and buried it deeper.

  At this time, a sudden "boom" explosion scared everyone...

  "No... it wasn't me!" The little warrior stared blankly at the landmine in his hand, saying nervously: "I... my landmine didn't explode!"

  "Hmph..." A burst of laughter erupted from the warriors. I couldn't help but join in, and this little warrior didn't think about it either - if his landmine had exploded, would we still be standing here chatting so casually?

  "Silence! Silence!" Scar raised his hand to us, and the warriors soon realized what was happening, hastily crouching down and picking up their rifles...